Chocolate de Maní (Peanut “Cocoa”)

May 5, 2011

Oh, how time flies my friends!

Today we finally change the very last of the tiny, lo-res pictures we used in the first version of this site, made with a 3 mp camera in the kitchen of my old apartment. Time flies and so does technology.

Let celebrate that with a cup of Chocolate de Maní (Peanut “Cocoa”).

When I first started this site, as a way to keep track of my recipes and to send my friends to it whenever they asked about Dominican dishes, I decided to add pictures right from the start. What good is a food blog without pictures?

In fact as this site gets older, and bandwidth cheaper, pictures get bigger (and hopefully better) and paragraphs get longer.

Ten years ago I would never have dreamed that food photography would one day become my day job, my hobby, my passion. It just started as something I enjoyed, and once I started doing this for a living I have not worked a day since. I wake up excited about what I will do the next day, looking forward to what my readers and my clients will say about my job.

Everything is in its rightful place.

It is somehow fitting that the last picture I change is of a drink that was a weekly routine at our weekend breakfast table in my parental home, the cradle of my passion for food.

Buen provecho!

Aunt Clara

Print

Chocolate de Maní Recipe (Dominican Peanut 'Cocoa')

Prep Time

5mins

Cook Time

5mins

Total Time

10mins

Chocolate de Maní Recipe (Peanut 'Cocoa'): This warm, thick drink was a popular tradition in my own family, and very much worth a try. Mornings got better!

Servings: 6servings

Author: Clara Gonzalez

Ingredients

1 1/2cupsof unsalted toasted peanuts

2quarts[2 lt] of skim milk

A pinch of salt

1cupof sugar, or to taste

2cinnamon sticks

6 cloves

1teaspoonof ground nutmeg(optional)

Instructions

Blend the toasted peanuts, milk, and salt. Add sugar to taste.

Pour into a pot.

Add cinnamon sticks and cloves.

Boil for 10 minutes over low heat.

Remove the cinnamon sticks and cloves.

Sprinkle the nutmeg on top after serving.

Notes & Nutrition Facts

Use almond, soy or rice milk for a vegan version. You may use sweetener of your choice in place of sugar.

@Sheryl:
What you had is called “Habichuelas con Dulce” or sweet beans this is a dish that we typically serve for “semana santa” or during lent!! So when Candy said beans she litterally meant beans… Usually of the smallish read beans which are typical if the DR! Recipes vary from region to region and in some local bittersweet chocolate may be added to round out the flavor! I hope this was helpful!

I'm looking for a recipe for the thick, shake-like, chocolate tasting drink I had on Good Friday morning in the area of Sosua, Dominican Republic. A family invited me for lunch and I was first served this drink. It tasted like chocolate. Round crispy banana-like wafers were on top. Sunk to the bottom of the glass were raisins and cloves. This drink was unbelievably good and filling. Candy, the woman of the house, told me it was made out of beans (possibly cocoa beans??). Your help in locating a recipe would be fantastic. Thanks!